Red Crescent: Over 2,600 shot with live, rubber bullets in October

An Israeli soldier aims his weapon at Palestinian protesters during clashes on a street leading to Duma village, on August 1, 2015. (AFP/Jaafar Ashtiyeh/File)

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces shot and wounded at least 2,617 Palestinians with live and rubber-coated steel bullets through October, the Palestinian Red Cross said Sunday, as clashes carried on into the new month.

A Red Crescent spokesperson told Ma'an that at least 760 Palestinians were shot with live rounds across the occupied Palestinian territory, while another 1,857 were hit with rubber-coated steel bullets.

He said that a further 5,399 Palestinians were treated for excessive tear gas inhalation during the period, while another 246 were injured in other ways, including assault by Israeli soldiers and burns from tear gas canisters.

The spokesperson said that it brought the total injured during October to 8,262 Palestinians.

For most parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, October was also the deadliest month since the Second Intifada, with at least 69 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.

While 26 were shot dead during clashes, another 40 Palestinians were shot dead after Israel alleges they attempted or carried out attacks on Israelis.

While Palestinians agree that a number of Palestinians were shot dead while carrying out attacks -- ultimately claiming 10 Israelis' lives -- footage and witness testimony have raised serious doubts over the Israeli army's version of events in many of the other cases.

Moreover, Palestinian, Israeli and international rights groups have said that in the majority of cases, Israeli forces needlessly killed their alleged attackers when they posed no imminent threat, a practice Israeli group B'Tselem referred to as "extrajudicial executions."

Amnesty International said last week that Israeli force appeared "to have ripped up the rulebook and resorted to extreme and unlawful measures."

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein said: "The high number of casualties, in particular those resulting from the use of live ammunition by Israeli security forces, raise concerns of excessive use of force, and violations of the right to life and security of the person."

Clashes continue

The wave of unrest that swept the occupied Palestinian territory last month seemed unabated at the start of November, as fresh clashes left more Palestinians injured on Sunday.

In the central Gaza Strip, Israeli forces shot and injured two Palestinians with live rounds east of al-Buriej refugee camp, medics told Ma'an.

Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesperson for Gaza's Ministry of Health, said that both Palestinians were hit in their lower extremities and taken to Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in moderate condition.

Meanwhile in Hebron, Israeli forces shot and injured two Palestinians with live rounds in Sair village northeast of Hebron.

The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health told Ma'an that one Palestinian was shot in his abdomen and the other in his thigh. They were both taken to Beit Jala governmental hospital for treatment and were in a stable condition.

The Red Crescent said that at least four were hit with rubber-coated steel bullets in clashes in Tulkarem, while further clashes were reported in a number of other flashpoints across the occupied West Bank.

A Palestinian was also shot dead by Israeli forces in the village of Beit Einun just east of Hebron in the first death this month.

The Israeli army said he attempted to stab a soldier, although they also said it took place during clashes inside the village. No Israelis were injured during the incident.

More cameras needed to record this brutality. B'Tselem seems slow to react to the need for cameras. One legitimate fundraiser could by 5,000 Go-Pro cameras. That would be a start of capturing everything on camera and exposing it all. Just change the camera locations after each incident.

02/11/2015 07:36

Mark of Lewiston / USA

Cameras need to be networked to capture and broadcast the brutalities instantly Once on the net, they cannot be erased. Even live broadcast would bring pause once the IDF knows it is being broadcast live.

02/11/2015 07:39

Outlier / USA

Mark, those cameras will be a two-edged sword, showing Palestinians instigating nearly all these confrontations. The first rule of security is to eliminate a violent threat through overwhelming force, and that is exactly what Israel is doing.

03/11/2015 18:39

carlos / USA

Outlier that is wishful thinking. I have seen no video which exhonerates or shows good reason for israeli summary execution. I have seen israeli police summarily execute unarmed girls begging for thier lives when they are no danger to anyone.

04/11/2015 18:47

carlos / usa

Outlier read MAAN story about girl shot at Afula. Court decided the girl who was summarily executed but survived was innocent. In a mind boggling side note israel will not prosecute the would be murderers! There is no justice from israel only tyranny.

04/11/2015 18:52

Mel / UK

Remember the testimonies of 'Breaking the Silence' members, saying that a common tactic of IDF,is to first cut into the rubber coating before loading/firing the bullets, to maximise wound damage. No Geneva Cons in Israel. Just cowards.

06/11/2015 16:41

Outlier / USA

Sorry Carlos, but one example does not a reality make. Many Palestinians with knives and much Palestinian violence after funerals has been documented. Settlers perpetrating violence should also be accountable. Cameras would help with both.

06/11/2015 19:41

ian / australia (1)

To Outlier. "Mark, those cameras will be a two-edged sword, showing Palestinians instigating nearly all these confrontations." Cameras would record three kinds of violence. Suicide attacks (with knife or vehicle, successful or not) where the martyr is killed (as s/he expected), murders of innocent people by border guards who claim a "terrorist attack" was "thwarted"

07/11/2015 00:11

ian / australia (2)

(contd.) (showing the knife to prove it) and lethal attacks in Palestinian towns like Beit Fajjar or camps like Aida by soldiers "responding" to "violent protests" to "restore calm". Only in the first instance would cameras show Palestinians "instigating" violence. In the others, they'd record, as you say, "exactly what Israel is doing", committing attrocities and carrying out the state terror for which you are a chronic apologist.

07/11/2015 00:17

Paul / Kenya

How can you be summarily executed and also survive, Carlos?So if she is alive, then she was not executed at all....

07/11/2015 00:56

Mel / UK

Read published testimonies of ex-IDF recounting how IDF would cut into the rubber-coating too,before using live bullets, to maximize long-term injury to occupied Pals.

07/11/2015 11:39

Outlier / USA

Ian, unlike you, I am not a "chronic apologist." Both sides have much to answer for, but just because Palestinians face difficulties does not mean they get a "free pass" on violence.

07/11/2015 19:54

ian / australia

"How can you be summarily executed and also survive, Carlos? So if she is alive, then she was not executed at all...." You're right, "Paul", she wasn't executed, just shot like a mad dog in the street from a safe distance by a soldier in zero personal danger and completely unconcerned about whether she was killed or not. It wasn't a "summary execution" but for all the soldiers who cornered and shot her cared, it could have been.

08/11/2015 01:00

ian / austrealia (1)

"Ian, unlike you, I am not a "chronic apologist." " Sure you are, Outlier. You refer to "both sides" needing to curtail their excesses as though they were morally and materially equivalent . You're in complete denial that the paradigm (if that's the word) is brutal aggressor and legitimate violent resistance. You refer to the dispossession, ethnic cleansing and sustained terrorising

11/11/2015 05:33

ian / australia (2)

(contd.) of Palestinians by the Israeli state, including the brazen plan to steal their holiest site, as "difficulties" and suggest that supporting their legitimate right to self defense with proportionate force is giving them a "free pass" on violence. You tut-tut about the periphery of Israel criminality, condemning the gaudier settler violence, but never the underlying evil of STATE terror.